One Small Boy/Waiting for Life/ And The Gods Heard His Prayer/Rain

"Ah yes," Michael resumed his tale after Anna's excited bouncing had stopped. "Once on this island there was a terrible storm, even worse than any you children have ever seen..."

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The island was flooded the night of that storm. Many huts had washed away and many peasants had drowned in Agwe's angry water. But out of the flood came a survivor among many, but a special one. One small boy had caught Agwe's attention and he'd spared him. Asaka had joined Agwe in the rescue of the small boy by scooping him up from the flood waters and sheltering him in a nearby tree that was high above them. The boy had cried in fear at her, but stared into her soil colored brown eyes as if he were studying them before she disappeared like a shadow in the night leaving the boy alone once again. The little boy had lost his parents hours ago. He presumed the worst and at the thought of that he burst into tears again. His crying was the only company and voice he had throughout the stormy night.

But at last, the storm subsided and the sun glowed at Asaka's wake. The small boy, who slept in the tree that night and was still in dreamland, was unknowingly not alone anymore. Two old peasants from another nearby village at higher ground walked down the road. They inspected the damage and prayed for their dead friends and relatives. Their names were Charles and Rebecca. They had been married happily for years and were looked upon highly in the village they lived in. They were practically the leaders of it. Charles, or as the village people called him, Chuck for short, would go out daily and talk to his people and tend to the harvest. Rebecca or as she was affectionately called by the children of the village: "Becky" would tend to things around their hut. The cooking and the cleaning as a typical housewife did. The Gods had always blessed them with the best of luck according to everyone they knew and they so rarely took their words to heart. They weren't about blessings or luck; they were about love and happiness. But little did they know, as much as they hated referring to their good fortunes as blessings, they were about to be blessed again.

"Asaka is smiling today isn't she Charles?" Rebecca commented with a smile upon her face as bright as the risen sun.

"This morning she smiles," Chuck laughed. "Last night she tried to blow our heads off!"

"Oh come now Charles it is beautiful outside is it not," Rebecca kissed her husband's stubbly cheek. "Why just listen to the birds."

"Coo coo coo coo coo."

"They do sound lovely," Charles replied, kissing his wife back affectionately for he loved her so and running a hand through her long blonde hair. Suddenly though, the small boy realized he was no longer alone and cried out in fear, interrupting their moment. "In the name of the Gods, what kind of bird is that?!"

"Look," Rebecca pointed up into the tree at the small black haired and blue eyed boy. "There! A bird with one small face and two small knees and quite frankly not a bird at all. I dare say child why are you up there?"

"What is your name?" Charles asked as well.

The small boy trembled and his lips remained closed. Not a peep was heard out of him, only from his bird companions in a nest nearby. Rebecca turned back to Charles.

"The boy can't speak..." she stated.

"And I'm sure they're to blame," Charles pointed up at the sky, insinuating the Gods. "Agwe probably meant to kill him last night."

"But then he'd be dead." Rebecca reminded her husband.

"It's possible he forgot." Charles shrugged.

"The Gods don't forget." Rebecca smiled and shook a finger at him, as if scolding him.

"Then they had a reason to spare his life and it's best that we don't know what." Charles replied. The two stared at the boy, who was obviously utterly terrified of them and shook their heads. They decided to leave him where he was. They had no room for children and no food. They were old. There were a number of reasons why they turned away, but as they stopped halfway down the road the tree still in view, they found one reason to turn around. They didn't know quite why, but they followed the trail back to the tree and Rebecca stood on a rock nearby, Charles steadying her. She lifted the terrified child down.

"No!" he cried out, but then clung to her like a scared infant. It was a relief to them that he could speak after all.

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From the second they brought the small boy home he was a bit of a rambunctious troublemaker. It was all innocent though. He was constantly in the way of the villagers as they tried to do their jobs every day; he was growing like a weed and constantly hungry due to that. He was a fast learner and he quickly learned what annoyed each person and why. He played harmless pranks and laughed at the results, but was quickly scolded afterward. At night Rebecca and Charles would play with him and tease him, but every night before bed they'd hold him. Charles enjoyed watching his newly adopted son fall asleep in his wife's arms. He'd always wanted children when they were both much younger than now, but life had not permitted it. He considered the boy a blessing and a good one at that.

When the boy grew a bit older they named him Castiel, or "shield of Gods" but in their affection they called him simply "Ti Moune" or little orphan in their language. Castiel had inquired about his name and why it had to do with the Gods. He'd ask them about the Gods a lot. They'd told him how he must have been saved for something special and if they knew what they'd be Gods themselves. Castiel had promised Rebecca that one day he'd ask the Gods why he was saved for them. He'd expected high praise or even an expression of thanks, but Rebecca had simply told him to go and play.

Castiel had forgotten his promise over time. He'd simply played and ran and fell and did things children did and in his parent's eyes he was growing up far too soon.

"I know my arms cannot hold him forever," Rebecca said to Charles one day as the two of them were observing their son from their hut as he helped an older villager with washing the clothes and a few others with planting and watering the seeds. "But Gods do I wish he could stay small."

"Never forget that our hearts," Charles said, smiling and holding his wife close to his side. "Will remember him from youth. He will always be our small boy from the tree."

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Years Later...

"So tell me again," Balthazar, a young man in the village around the same age as Castiel, asked. "About this man you keep babbling on about like the brook in the forest?"

"He is a stranger," Castiel, now nineteen years old and clearly mature replied with a goofy smile on his face. "In plaid, in a car, he goes somewhere at least every day for I see him racing by going fast and somewhere far."

"A car," Balthazar inquired. "Why that can only mean he is from the east side of the island? Castiel this is a rich boy you are speaking so fondly of! Don't you know they are our enemies?"

"I know," Castiel said, still smiling, as he and Balthazar sat on the edge of the cliff overlooking the dirt road that passed by their village upon the hillside. "But he is simply, magical. He is different. I get this feeling inside me when I see him driving by so fast in that car of his. I want to just hop in and drive with him!"

"You are lusting after this rich boy," Balthazar laughed heartily; Castiel gave him a look in response. "This is simply hilarious!"

"But just imagine it," Castiel leapt up from his spot and reached out his arm as if he were telling a story around the village fire. "How it must feel to go racing wherever you please, flying as free as a bird!"

Castiel stuck out his arms and twirled around in a circle for emphasis. He landed squarely in Balthazar's chest and the unconvinced peasant plucked Castiel off of him and rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure he's just so great," Balthazar replied sarcastically. "That even the fish in the sea must want to hop into that precious auto of his and take a drive."

"Well wouldn't you too," Castiel asked, still smiling as bright as Asaka's sun. "If you caught a glimpse of the stranger in plaid racing by?"

"No," Balthazar replied, crossing his arms. "Quite frankly I don't. You do realize how many of their laws that the rich have against us that would violate?"

"I'm sick of laws," Castiel pouted and looked down at the road. "I feel as though my whole life is this village! I want something more! I've prayed to the Gods every day for something to happen, I've been waiting for life to begin for me."

"After all your parents have done for you," Balthazar accused him. "You're just going to leave them, just like that?"

"Well not forever," Castiel replied. "I just want an adventure. I want to be the one that changes things for our people. I want to drive with the rich boy..."

Castiel's face when a faint shade of pink as Balthazar gave him a look.

"Oh come on," Castiel argued, turning towards his best friend. "You can't tell me you haven't wanted more? I mean Rebecca is content, Charles excepts what he gets. They take their tea and mend the holes in the fishing nets every day. They create bountiful harvests, but they're the same every year. They have never even looked up at the sound of his car!"

As if by fate, the roar of an engine was heard and both Castiel and Balthazar look down to the road to see a car race by. The very car Castiel has described. Sleek and black. The back of it says: Chevrolet and Castiel assumed that was the name of the person who made it. The car is clearly in mint condition even though the rich boy treats it as though it is a competition car.

"See there he goes racing down the beach," Castiel motioned towards the car as it tore on by and disappeared down the road, his heart skipping a few beats when he saw the driver. "Racing to the places I am meant to reach! One day, you'll see one day he'll look up here and notice me and he'll stop his car and ask me if I want to go with him and surely I'll say yes."

"You are crazier than the Gods sometimes I swear." Balthazar commented.

Balthazar left Castiel alone by the side of the cliff, laughing at his daydreams as he walked away. Castiel looked down at the road once again and the cloud of dust the rich boy's car had left behind. Castiel grumbled and trudged home shortly after.

Night fell upon the village and the peasants all settled in for their night's slumber, the elders praying that Papa Ge would leave them alone for one more night, and the young praying to Asaka and Agwe for peace with the weather. Castiel, however; prayed to any God that would listen that night in his hut.

"Oh Gods, Oh Gods please be there," Castiel prayed, his eyes closed tight. "Don't you remember me, Castiel from the tree? Look down and hear my prayer. Don't save me and then forget me."

Castiel pictured the rich boy again and his heart thudded in his chest as he continued to pray.

"Oh Gods, let me fly please," Castiel said. "Send me to places that no one like me has been. I wish to know my purpose, one of you spared my life and now I wish to know why. Please let my life begin. I pray to you."

With that done Castiel lay down on his mat and closed his eyes to sleep. He prayed more in his head, silently that the Gods would hear his previous prayers.

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That night...

The Gods did in fact hear his prayer.

They had all come out of the woodwork, never had anyone prayed to all four of them at the same time and never had it been for any reasons except for the usual ones. They descended on the village one by one and to the hut where the prayer had come from. Castiel lay sleeping on his mat as all four Gods suddenly were surrounding him.

Asaka came first, Mother of the Earth. She was tall and skinny and had fair skins. Her hair was cut short and both her hair and eyes were brown. She wore a long sleeved brown flowy shirt and a long green skirt and no shoes. She wore a crown on her head made out of sprigs of grass and pink flowers that grew on the island. Like all of the Gods, before she'd become a God she'd been a human. She as a human had had the name of Jody and was tending to the herbs in her garden one day when she'd been bit by a poisonous snake and hadn't been treated in time to save her. She became Asaka shortly after.

Agwe, God of Water, was the next to approach the sleeping peasant boy. He had deep gray eyes that resembled the choppiest and stormiest of seas; his hair was long and brown and cascaded down the sides of his face like waves. He wore a long sleeved shirt as well, but it was blue and his pants were dark forest green. He too wore no shoes, but the Gods didn't have a need for them. He also had a crown perched upon his head with blue controlled waves coming out of the top of it. He as a human had drowned in the sea while boating and fishing for the village and his human name had been Sam.

Erzulie, Goddess of Love, was the third to enter the hut. She radiated beauty with her long golden flowing hair and her deep brown almost red like a heart eyes. She was the shortest of the group for she had been the youngest when she died as a human. She had fair skin and moved daintily on her bare feet. She wore a pink long sleeved shirt and a long white skirt. She had died when her abusive husband had killed her late one night in their hut and dumped the body in the forest. Her human name had been Jo.

Lastly, the most feared of the motley crew showed up. Papa Geti or Papa Ge as most referred to him. He was short as well. With golden blonde hair that was half the length of Agwe's and mischievous eyes the color of sunshine. He wore a black suit and a matching colored top hat with skull beads sewn into the rim of it. He wore a necklace around his neck of a small skull and a ring on his finger with yet another one. He radiated misfortune and death wherever he went, because well that was what he was the God of: Death. In his human life he had died of a mysterious plague that had swept through the village and he had died rather painfully and untimely. His human name had been Gabriel.

"Ah Agwe," Papa Ge smirked. "Nice to see you're not stirring up another storm. I'm sure these poor fools need a break now and then?"

"You flatter me Papa Ge," Agwe chuckled. "That last perfect storm was my best work. I do believe I am done for awhile."

"Personally," Asaka interrupted. "I do believe we should focus more on the matter at hand here. The peasant boy wants a Grand Homme to carry him away!"

The Gods laughed heartily and loudly, unheard by human ears.

"We should knock some sense into him," Asaka trilled. "I know of a nice mango tree where we can find one and drop it on his head?"

"I say we splash him with a wave," Agwe replied. "Freezing cold water make knock him into his senses?"

"I say we scare him half to death!" Papa Ge smirked evilly and rubbed his hands together.

"We should give him what he wants." Erzulie smiled.

"Give him what he wants?!" the other three Gods exclaimed.

"Yes," Erzulie went on to explain her reasoning. "Love has many powers. If the love is true it can cross the Earth."

She motioned to Asaka who swallowed hard.

"And withstand the storm."

Agwe rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"It can conquer even you." She gave a cheeky look to Papa Ge.

"Hah!" Papa Ge laughed. "Is that a challenge? Love, conquer Death? Why I could stop his heart like that!"

Papa Ge snapped his fingers for emphasis.

"You could stop his heart from beating yes," Erzulie calmly debated. "But not from loving. Not if love is what he chooses."

"Ridiculous!" Papa Ge exclaimed.

"Interesting..." Agwe was usually always willing to hear the Love Goddess' ideas.

"More amusing than my idea," Asaka said. "Mangos, what are we? Children?"

The Gods pondered the idea. They could do it. They had the power. They'd brought people together before and they'd taught lessons every day. They could easily do the same for Castiel. He had prayed after all. The circled the sleeping young man and contemplated for awhile before all at once they came to a consensus.

"A journey!"

"I will give him strength," Erzulie commented with a smile. "When the time is right."

"I will guide his way..." Asaka promised.

"I will make him," Papa Ge wore a shit eating grin again. "Choose..."

"And I'll provide the place where two different worlds will meet," Agwe smiled, determined. "Tonight..."

After the plan had been formulated to its perfection the four God's exited Castiel's hut and begun stage one of it.

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Agwe stood high on the cliff overlooking the road and the sea. The moon shone bright down onto his waves and he smiled proudly, forget last week's storm, this would be his finest work! The wind blew softly. His friends, the other Gods had disappeared into the shadows to watch him work. Biding their time until it came. Right now, this was Agwe's moment.

"Let there be no moon," he commanded and the moon disappeared behind a wall of clouds. "Let the clouds race by and where the road meets the sea, let the tide be high."

Agwe, with a flick of his wrist, instantly made the sea level rise. He heard the rumble of the rich boy's engine just far enough down the road and he knew that the plan was playing out as it should.

"Let there be a boy walking by the sea," Agwe commanded once again and Castiel awoke. He didn't know why he did, but something told him that it was where he needed to be. He stood, walking out of his hut and down the hillside to the shore. "And let there be...rain!"

Agwe shot his hand up to the sky and immediately his power struck the clouds and rain poured down from them. He felt an overwhelming surge of pride and it wasn't just an oceanic surge. He smirked as he looked at Castiel. He watched as Castiel stared down the dirt road that had turned basically to mud. Rained poured down onto the mud, adding layer upon slippery layer, the rain streaked down Castiel's face as he was dumbstruck and staring at the headlights he saw down the way, coming fast. The road was far too dangerous for cars to be on it now. Agwe increased his productivity.

"Let there be a car," Agwe practically whispered as the rain pelted down on him too, flattening his hair and pieces of it stuck to his cheeks. He did not mind though, for it was his element. "Racing through the night. Where the road meets the sea...let him wait."

As if by magic Castiel stopped walking and appeared to be waiting. The car drew closer, it's driver unable to control it any longer due to the heavy rain. The windshield wipers moved faster than the wind that was blowing.

"Where the road meets the sea," Agwe stretched out his hand as if cursing the vehicle. "Let him spin!"

Shortly after Agwe said the words, the car hit an extremely slippery patch and spun out of control. The driver was scared beyond belief and Castiel gasped at the familiar automobile. It was the rich boy's!

"Let their fate begin..." Agwe whispered to himself, a shiver running up his spine as he snapped his fingers and the rich boy's car went pummeling into the hillside. Metal crunched in at a sickening decibel and Castiel gasped. Castiel, wet and muddy, ran over towards the occupant of the car.

Agwe walked away off the hillside, knowing his part was done.

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